Has anyone actually used the Thundertusk yet?

I remember there was a period in the run-up to the new book when we'd gotten whiff of the rules for both big beasties, and the majority of people said they preferred the Thundertusk when it came to purely gaming. Now that the book's out, and after a demoralising personal defeat using a Stonehorn, has anyone yet tried them out and if so how have they performed?

Not tried any myself.

Both don't look great if I'm totally honest, I doubt they'll make any competative build of mine, but will use for fun (that probably means at some tournaments too)
The Thundertusk is looking the worst of the two, the ASL only affecting models, not units.
Plus the fact it doesn't really know what it is, like a Dragon Mage.

Had a go with the Thundertusk, it wasn't the most ideal conditions (loads of scenery limited its movement) and the stone thrower shot kept scattering off of targets.

It's ASL was very useful though as it was parked right next to my Lord's unit during it's combat.

It was mostly bad luck but I don't think I got the most out of it.

Used one of each in a 3000 point game on Monday vs. VC

The stonehorn charged into a pair of varghulfs (I wanted to see what would happen.....and I did).  It did a whole wound!  It actually won it's first round of combat and drew a couple of others, but eventually ran out of wounds.  It maybe did 3 wounds to the varghulfs before in died.

Not impressed.....especially not when a lone gorger ran up and took out the varghulfs on his lonesome!

The thundertusk actually survived the battle, but didn't contribute a great deal either.  It's first shot with it's snowball scattered off target, the second killed a handful of grave guard.  It's ASL only effects models, so getting it near a fight (but not in one so it could still shoot) didn't really work out.

I then stuck it in front of a ghoul horde and buffed the he'll out of it with a slaughermaster, it still took a lot of damage, but did a moderate amount back, holding for the one turn in needed to so that an irongut unit could hit the flank and crumble the block.

Not impressed here either.

Treating the stonehorn like a very large chariot seems like it's best use, but it's not cheap and can't get through small gaps.  The thundertusk......well, I'll try it in some more games, but generally I can't see it myself.  Ironblasters or scraplaunchers would seem to be better options IMO.

I have tried a stonehorn (vs skaven & WE), hunter mounted stonehorn (vs empire) and the thunder tusk (vs WOC & lizards).  I have been playing a 2500 game every night since the book came out testing every unit in it mixxing my own ideas and several of the strategies and tactics on these and a few other forums.

I put all 3 options pretty solidly into the 'its a big creature what more do you want from it?' category. 

Universally there are simple truths when it comes to big monsters: they die quickly to shooting (unless they feature a GOOD not adaquet armor save or a ward save) they pump out an uninspired amount of attacks for thier points.  They bring a lot less wounds to the table, they have good mobility, and sometimes a few special rules that make them glow.

This big guys come in at 250 pts a pop which honestly isn't too bad in a 2500 pt game you have room for 2 scrappies or a scrappy and a belcher and 1 of these.  Their special rules are unique and interesting.

I don't know how to express correctly that they we're exactly what I expected and my expectations were that they'd be a 3.5/10 on the table.  Their special rules did make a difference sometimes I don't feel like I was jipped by taking them but in every game I felt that for 250 pts a unit of 7 fully geared out bulls would have been a better investment.

Without going into a ramble:
Stone horn: good for hitting things that have ASF I imagine I'd like to use one against HE swordmaster for example.  -Impact attack - This ability is dependent on me getting the charge and is only available on the first round of combat. It's potentially devastating or potentially a total wiff, for 250 points my wiff factor is much lower on 7 bulls.
-Halfing multi wounds - Thinking of my giant in the old book, my Walter in my empire army, My treeman in my WE army multiwounds suck when they happen.  However on something that is doing d6 wounds 1/2 rounded up still means I'm loosing half my wounds to a single shot. 2 rounds of cannon fire and I am dead or hitting combat with 1 wound.
-Frenzy- this doesn't get brough up very often but the stonehorn has frenzy and as such if your not near the bsb/general you have 40+% chance of chasing eagles all game, I didn't pay attention in my game with WEs (thought I was going to line up a sweet flank charge) and this happened to me.
-as a mount- Helps with the frenzy aspect, helps with survivability by having a wardsave hunter eating a few shots.  But at 400 hero pts I can't find space in my armies, I'm either forced to drop the bsb or my level 2 caster, both of which are too important to my game play for a luxury.

Where I do think this guy will shine, is actually at hunting other large targets, 8 str 6 impact hits on a giant for example is going to bring the giant to near death, If you did even a few wounds prior too it will let the stone horn plow through.  However while big monsters are becoming more popular they aren't popular enough yet in my local meta to really test this theory.

T'Tusk: it's a monster, and a warmachine, and a chracter sniper without snipe, and it has an attack with killing blow, and it has an area debuff ... and and and ... it does nothing well.
Stonethrower/chaintrap/harpoon - all have different ranges all have different priority targets, this could be great giving an awesome mobile firing platform BUT all have to shoot at the same target removing any chance of practical use.
AoE debuff - at first the thought of ASL got me excited, but in practice reality settle in:
1 this is not the equivelent of your army getting ASF like HEs, because you don't get to reroll misses
2 most opponents have enough troops in their units that step-up allows them to still get their full return swings.

this debuff did prove useful unexpectedly however at assisting in challenges, twice against WOC I was able to issue a challenge and kill the champion that accepted before he did any damage effectively removing multiple wounds coming into the unit and providing some free CR.

Sadly vs lizards it's measly 5+ AS was not enough to save it from skinks.

Quite frankly I feel the rules for these models were a bit rushed a few changes would have made a big difference here, allowing the T'tusk to fire at multiple targets, Giving the Chaintrap sniper and increasing the armor save of each by 1 and I think they'd be solid.  I will continue to test them, both I have a 10 games and your out policy with new models so both of them have quite a bit of longevity to them for me still but the outlook of them 'making the cut' in a competitive list is grim for me.

After re-reading numbing chill, I saw it said models and not units within 6."  This sucks!!!

The Ironblaster is definitely looking like the best rare choice at the mo, for me the monsters will only be showing up at 3000pts. I should be getting the Stonetusk set in a few day's time (Wayland finally shipped, yay!) and I don't prefer one over the other in terms of looks, so I'm heavily pondering what they'll be like in future games. The 'Tusk is currently telling me it's an ideal deathstar-sitter, but I just don't know yet....

I'm leaning more Stonehorn now that I see Thundertusk is a bit underpowered in it's affect.  At least Stonehorns can protect a flank.

I was initially very excited about the thundertusk but have since come back down to earth. As every has said it's a jack of all trades, but doesn't do anything well.. And seeing as how its aura effects models not units, it's really not that useful.

I can see people using them initially, then cutting them for more mournfangs (which is what I plan to do). You can get a unit of 3+command/banner, or if you can cough up a few more points a unit of 4, which is a much better option than either big beast (mournfangs win on impact hits, attacks, armour save, movement etc.. only thing the  stonehorn has is halving multiple wounds and higher t).

Have used it once in a 2 vs 2 player game, teamed up with Lizards against WoC/Empire ("evil" Alliance) and the Thundertusk got shot up by a Cannon twice and lumbered over and died.... Mind you things would have been different if our side got the first turn.     

Ran it once against empireso far.  It got shot at with cannons and crossbows but kept moving across the table until the steam tank hit it and ran it off the board (failed to rally and then ran off the board the following turn).

The stone thrower was responsible for killing a few halberdiers and the crossbow kind of sucks without it being a real bolt thrower.

Big chicken.

Having tried both at least once, I can say the following:

Thundertusk-  This guy is ok, for the utility, but largely a waste of points.  A basic giant is a lot cheaper, not much less survivable, and puts out a lot more offense.  The aura ability is largely pointless in the age of Stepup, especially since most Ogres have poopy Initiative (or are swinging great weapons), but it does synergize well with a shooty list, especially one using Maneaters who actually have descent initiative.

Stonehorn-  The basic rare version is a generic giant monster that can soak a couple cannon hits before dropping, which is alright.  It is not very punchy for a big monster lacking stubborn, though, so its not as good at chewing up basic infantry and hanging in the fight.  This is something that you take to deliver a late game coup de grace or tackle other big monsters head on.  Those roles can be filled by other units, however, so its more of a "take it if you like big monsters" kind of choice.  The Hunter ridden version, particularly sporting the Other Tricksters Shard and some form of magic weapon (or the Stubborn crown) is interesting, but its just a little too expensive to justify.  They should have made the mount 220 for the Hunter to take into account the lost attacks of the rider (after all, you pay for the Hunter), but I have taken this build with my Slaughtermaster led lists and its done alright (I was up against Daemons), but I can't recommend it.

The Iron Blaster is a must have, however, and fights nearly as well as either of these rares.  Every serious list should include two.

This is pretty surprising, actually. On second glance, the Thundertusk does look like a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, but I would have thought that the Stonehorn would have carved a niche in a few Ogre armies. Oh, well. Time to get more Mournfangs!

I used one thrice now. At 3000 against Chaos, at 2500 against dwarfs, and at 2250 against Wood Elves.

was chopped up by chaos warriors, but tipped a combat in favour of my bulls with it's ASL aura, and stone threw some marauders and stone/bolt/chaintrapped a warshrine to death, but didn't quite pay itself back in the end, I think.

Needless to say it was shot to pieces by the dwarfs along with most of my other army, as I was incredibly unlucky with my magic phase, and never got off Trollguts.

Against wood elves, it was amazing. Making dryads who charged my bulls go last, tipped a crucial combat, whereafter it pulverized 16 archers with a lvl 2 mage by itself, over 2 rounds, and that was even though it was charged in the flank by cavalry. They all fled after the second round, and the archers were run down.
That said, my magic went splendid this game, and my main battleline was Trollgut protected non-stop except turn 4 or 5, where I was in combat, and did not need the protection against high strength arrows en másse.

Overall, I'll rate it a solid choice. It is indeed better against some armies than others, and combined with trollguts, and if it is faq'ed to be able to shoot at different things , it will be one of the better monsters out there.

As for the stonehorn, except if I play insane point values like 3500+, and can afford one with a hunter, I think I'll stick with my giant. It have never failed me, and even though the internet does not give the giant the credit it deserves, it will remain my all time favourite monster, and I'll always take that over the stonehorn. I am not particularly fond of the stonehorn sculpt myself. Not that it isn't an absolute sculpting masterpiece by itself, I just don't think it fits with the rest of the range due to the undead apperance.